Monsoon
by Hango
Summary: Zuko has to learn the hard way, that being a Fire Lord means more than just feasts and ceremonies. But what occurs, if a young firebender roams troubled areas of the Fire Nation - and he's not alone? Zutara
1. Fiery Evenings

**Neither do I own ATLA, NOR this story. The story is written by Zora, I'm only translating it.  
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**Rated T because of scenes in future chapters!**

**Monsoon**

_**Fanfiction by Zora**_

**Chapter I: Fiery Evenings**

It was late in the morning, when Katara eventually woke up in her temporary bed. She felt odd again, just like every day, how the color red predominated in her room. Not as if she wished to complain about that: the bedchamber was huge, and she didn't have to share it with anyone. This sensation solely made her forget about the balmy colored decor, it was so extraordinary and great.

It was quite a surprise her slumber lasted this long, since she was still pretty uncomfortable with the climate of this land.

Yet, it was not the ever increasing temperature which had woken her up, but the maid, entering the room, and putting something onto the not so surprisingly blood-red cushion.

Katara lifted her head up, blinking slowly in order to get rid of the last bits of sleepiness, and took a glance at the thing the palace employee brought. Then she blinked again, thinking her mind started to play tricks on her.

Some sort of cloth was lying on the crimson drapery of the sofa, a garment which was not red at all. The fabric looked pale azure instead, tied with longish, shiny golden tape. Just as if it was a present.

The maid nearly cried out, so upset she became discovering Katara was awake, and she informed the waterbender in an apologetic tone that she brought a gift from the Fire Lord. The palace worker also told her that the mentioned royalty and all the other guests felt having breakfast without Katara quite unpleasant.

The girl from the Southern Water Tribe became a bit startled, mainly because she never thought she'd missed breakfast, and also because she wasn't prepared for such a gesture from her friend.

Katara, lost in thought, sat up in her bed, and was blinded in the next second, because her involuntary movement has been considered by the maid as a serious attempt to get up. So the girl drew the curtain, and Katara was flooded with the warmness of sunlight overwhelming the kingdom outside.

It was not an easy job for Katara to convince the maid that she could handle bathing and dressing on her own. Finally, by pointing out the obvious, that she was a waterbender, thus she didn't even need a bathtub, not to mention help, Katara managed to drive the dedicated young woman away. The maid bowed so deep before leaving the room; Katara touched her own back unintentionally. The waterbender almost felt the pain the maid might experience performing the polite move.

The people at the royal court — maybe in the whole city — thought Katara was a princess of the Southern Tribe, with a gentle yet strong hand which healed the wounds of their Fire Lord, and also defeated the monarch's sibling, who usurped the throne. In fact, while she was indeed a representative of the Water Tribe, she was no princess.

And she was entirely unable to get used to all the fuss which came with the position of a mere ambassador.

Katara put on her dressing gown, and thought that the climate of the Fire Nation was a blessing, after all. It would be impossible to wear such comfortable and practical outfit at the South Pole. She approached the package which the maid had left for her, and reached out for it absentmindedly.

_What a perfect fabric!_ she mused, stroking the material with her index finger, and then she held the cloth up high gripping the edge. Seeing the shape and size of the stunning dress, she only stared at it with sparkling eyes.

The waterbender sat onto the cushion and laid the dress in her lap, fondling it absently all over and over again, while her thoughts wandered away to the conversation she had with the Fire Lord the day before.

She remembered the sunset, one of the most colorful and magical sunsets she'd ever seen, a phenomenon only observable in this land of fire. It would've been impossibly dumb if they hadn't been outside watching it, and walking around in the palace grounds.

In fact, these evening walks had become quite a custom: Katara was usually accompanied by Sokka, Suki, Mai, Zuko and of course Momo.

The truth was, Sokka and his bride were not so much with the others, given they both were lost in their own little world instead, always pacing a few feet ahead. Not like Katara could blame them: there wasn't much time until their wedding, thus this trip to the Fire Nation Capital was like a teaser of their honeymoon. At least Sokka was not talking all along, like he did usually, and Katara could enjoy the uplifting scene of the fiery orb sinking beyond the horizon without being interrupted by the nonsense which her brother could offer.

There was one person though with whom Katara really wanted to share these moments: Aang. But the young Avatar was in Omashu, alongside with Toph. Though Aang had learnt the basics of bending each element, but since all the Avatars had practiced years to increase their skills, he had accepted King Bumi's invitation, and had gone to Omashu to learn from him. And Toph had gone with him, to see what Bumi could show, with full support from her parents this time.

She missed him so much! Aang was a perfect listener, and he always had something in mind to make her laugh. One thing only Iroh, Zuko's uncle was able to do, who has unfortunately hardly ever joined them for their walks. And Zuko… the young Fire Lord tried to be a good host, and he was willing to talk to Katara, but Mai was usually also there… And the pale noblewoman quite understandably expected that they would spend these moments in such an intimate manner with her lover as Sokka and Suki were doing it.

And even when Mai was in a talkative mood, the three of them couldn't find any common topic, of course.

Iroh seemed to be, however, cement to their small group. Whenever he was present, he chatted so nonchalantly with both Zuko and Katara that even Mai felt the urge to take part in the conversation.

"Do you have any information about the development of the Avatar's earthbending abilities, dear heart?" the old soldier had inquired during one of their walks.

"Yes, he sent me a letter recently. Well, Toph already refers to King Bumi as a 'menace'" Katara had said with a smirk. "I'm not so worried about Toph, though. Sooner or later old Bumi would regret letting her into his city in the first place. Aang, however… Earthbending was never one of his strengths. I presume it has to do something with him being an airbender. Earth and air are quite the opposite."

Iroh had looked serious as he had nodded positively, and he had opened his mouth perhaps to say some mannered words of wisdom about 'the four elements are only parts of the whole', but Zuko had interrupted his thoughts:

"If earth and air are the opposite" Zuko had told, looking back above his shoulder ", then maybe water and fire are opposite as well. Perhaps that's why you find it hard to get accustomed to our country!"

Katara had noticed the mischievous flicker in his friend's orbs, thus she had rolled her eyes, and answered with fake shyness:

"It's not hard at all; I'm surrounded by so many hard-working servants and not to mention a wholehearted host! Before coming here I had only Sokka to look after me, but soon only Suki will benefit from his efforts" she had stated, and acknowledged his brother's complaints with pleasure. All the others had laughed at her sarcasm, save Iroh, who had been fiddling with his grey beard with a scatty expression on his face.

"You may inform Aang in your reply that we look forward to see him as our guest here, Lady Katara, of course unless he's afraid of some firebending practice! I'm quite sure Zuko still has some things to teach him" the old man had said finally.

"Don't be ridiculous, uncle Iroh! If there's someone the Avatar should learn from, it is definitely you!" the young man walking beside the silent Mai had said. "Speaking of it, I think I could use a lesson or two as well! I might have forgotten some moves myself, since I'm not training regularly."

"If you have problems with your memory, I recommend having a nice cup of ginseng tea!"

"I know Aang would be thrilled if he'd have a chance to learn from the Dragon of the West" Katara had assured the old general.

"I bet Jeong-Jeong would be relieved, if he could skip Aang's training" Sokka had said, earning some glares with his remark. "What? You all think that either!"

All the evenings were like that one, except the previous. On that evening, Mai had stormed out of the dining room in the middle of the supper, given the letter she had received. Though she had seemed to be as indifferent as always, Katara couldn't help but deduced it must had been important, and she thought Zuko only had remained because of his respect for his guests.

After the dessert, they had gone to the lounge, where Sokka had dropped himself onto some pillows piled up on a couch and worded his determination to call it a day, because of his full stomach.

"So, we postpone our little walk this evening?" Katara had said, keeping her fingers crossed, because she really hadn't wished to share a walk with merely the two lovebirds and Momo. She, however, had stroked the long, furry ears of the lemur, in order to show the problem hadn't been him.

"Oh, no, go ahead! But I think I shall stay here and rest" Sokka had said in an irritatingly painful tone, and Suki had assured him she won't let him alone in this condition. Katara had shrugged, and left the couple alone, with Momo sitting on her collarbone. She had drawn the curtain, functioning as the exit to the inner garden, and had stepped outside on the terrace.

Yet another Fire-Nation-sunset, though it had been special. It had been one of the last ones for Katara... for the time being. They would have travelled home the day after tomorrow. And it had been fine to do so, because she had felt quite bored. No, bored was inappropriate… she had been lonely. She couldn't even figure why she had accepted the invitation in the first place.

Maybe she hadn't wanted to be all alone, and she really had longed for meeting some old friends. But now she had known it was time to go. She had hoped they would stop by in the Earth Kingdom, and maybe meet up with Aang.

It had started off quite interestingly, though. The formal, diplomatic obligations, such as exchanging gifts had taken the whole first day, but by the end of the second one, they'd been finished with all necessary political issues. There had been peace, after all, and no one cared about politics in times of peace. Zuko's schedule, however, had turned out to be surprisingly busy; nevertheless he had tried to do his best looking after his guests.

Not as if Katara had needed a babysitter. The confident girl she was, she had explored the palace on her own, spent a significant amount of time in the library and with bending practice. She even had demonstrated her skills to some astounded pedestrians in town and to some wealthy and influential people at the royal court after a ceremonial feast. It had been only her loneliness which she couldn't get rid of on her own.

Her thoughts had been interrupted by Momo, who had taken off from her shoulder, stubborn to catch a large insect flying above their heads with a buzzing sound. Katara had chuckled at this, and she had tried to keep up with the lemur. She had crossed a tiny lawn, and arrived to a narrow stream of water, divided to pieces by petite waterfalls.

Momo had landed on a bonsai in the meantime, where he had found a new source of entertainment, jumping up and down on its weak but whippy branches. Sometimes the lemur was suspiciously similar to Aang — or vice versa —, and had made Katara burst out laughing.

And she had been obviously not the only one, given the soft laughter coming from behind her back. It had been strangely familiar, yet unfamiliar. She had known the voice pretty well, but she had heard Zuko laughing very rarely.

"It always seemed like a miracle, that this little fellow could survive all alone in that deserted Air Temple" Zuko had told, unintentionally following the same path leading to the water stream as Katara. "And, not to mention, it's also quite suspicious how similar he is to Aang!"

The waterbender had failed to reply, so startled she had been because Zuko had told the same thing she was thinking about. She had bowed her head instead, and took note of how elegant the young Fire Lord had been. It had been, however, only the neatly tailored, long robe's doing, and of course the small, golden crown's, which had been the heritage of Avatar Roku. Zuko's disheveled hair and little goatee had made the exact opposite impression.

Hearing the words of Zuko, an odd thought had come to life in Katara's mind. What if Zuko knew how much she missed Aang as well? That would have meant someone saw her sorrow, understood her solitude…

"I mean" Zuko had continued, noticing that he caught Katara's attention. ", they share the same fate! They are both the last members of their kind: the Air Nomads and the lemurs. Survival is the bond which brings them so close to one another".

Katara's face had frozen. She had expected anything but this explanation, and it had upset her greatly. The next moment, however, she had understood how pathetic she was. Why couldn't she just speak her mind, instead of waiting for her friend to figure out what her problem had been?

She had shaken her head violently. No, this also had been stupid. She couldn't just tell this friend of hers that she had looked forward to leave as soon as possible.

"You've forgotten Appa! He's also the last one of his kind" she had spat out, just to say something, and headed for the small bench surrounded by some flowerbeds, right under the balcony of her room, to sit down for a bit.

"I didn't mention him because he wasn't the one who you'd found in the Air Temple" Zuko had said, totally confused. Katara had felt guilty, seeing his warm, apologetic smile. After all, it had been really not fair to show Zuko her nastier side, since he had tried to make her staying in the Fire Nation Capital at least tolerable. Even now, when he was supposed to be…

"Hey, why aren't you with Mai? I hope she didn't receive bad news…"

"Oh, don't worry! The letter came from Ty Lee. I didn't have a chance to learn what's in it, but I'm quite sure it's the usual rambling about fashion and beauty know-how" Zuko had said, waving off Katara's worries.

The young woman had raised an eyebrow at this.

"Yes, probably… But the baby is about to born, you know. I bet that's in the letter!" she had stated excitedly. "Mai's just not the kind of girl who leaves a more or less compulsory dinner just to read about beauty tips!"

"Oh, the child, I forgot! You're… you're right, of course" Zuko had told, and the embarrassment had silenced him.

Katara had thought this was the perfect opportunity to say 'good night' to the Fire Lord. She had needed some rest, and hoped with sleep the moment of departure would come more rapidly. Thus she had assured her friend, that she'd completely understand if he wished to go back to his partner and ask her about Ty Lee's baby.

Zuko, however, had not been willing to go at all. He had carried on trying to cheer up Katara instead:

"Oh, so you want to get rid of me? And what about the evening walk? As it seems, we are not like Sokka, we don't get knocked out by a steak rarer than optimal!" He had extended his palm, in order to help Katara emerge from the bench. A flash of a memory had come to Katara's mind: the scene of Zuko falling. Trapped by gravity, lured by the siren songs and welcoming arms of the rocky surface below, his hand held out desperately in the air… and herself, clutching at it tightly.

"Besides" he had added in a less joyful tone, and Katara had seen honest hurt as they locked eyes. "I feel more like being with an old friend right now. Because that's what we are, right? Friends… so, by the way, please, don't act like I was a Fire Lord!"

"You are a Fire Lord" the girl had protested.

"Yes. But I'm also Zuko! And for you… all of you, I'm Zuko in the first place. So?" he had looked at Katara a bit impatiently.

Finally, a smirk had appeared on Katara's lips, and she had seized on Zuko's hand. Zuko had seemed to be pleased, as he had led the girl back to the pathway. While they had continued with their pacing, Momo had landed silently on Katara's shoulder again. The waterbender had known Zuko was also smiling, without even looking at him.

"Do you remember how we concluded the other day that fire and water are the complete opposite?" Zuko had asked.

"I did not say I agree with you on that!" Katara had said, while passing by a huge, ivy-covered piece of stone.

"Right…" Zuko had inclined his head, a bit embarrassed given his tendency to make mistakes this evening. "Tell me: are you unhappy here?"

Katara, startled, had stopped dead in her tracks, and stared at her friend.

_So he did figure! How did he know? _she had thought, though she had known it didn't require a genius to find it out. _Oh, dear Spirits, why am I unable to conceal any emotions?_

Because of the lack of reply, Zuko had carried on:

"I did try to make you feel as good as possible… your room is the darkest one in the whole palace, and it also has a window which opens at a lake… Yes, I know that it doesn't feel like home, but still…"

Katara had started to feel awkward, thanks to all the care her friend had shown to her.

"Maybe you're unfamiliar with the food… or the people? Well, I don't think I can fix that. I'm really sorry, but the royal court is crowded with all kinds of annoying persons… trust me, I know!"

"Zuko!" Katara had had no other choice but to interrupt the Fire Lord's babbling. What he had been saying was nowhere near the truth. Even the Fire Nation nobles had provided better company for the time being, even with all their snobbish talking and ridiculous customs, than her brother and his bride… "You couldn't be more wrong! This place is wonderful! It's even… too much, since I'm just a… regular girl from a fishermen's tribe. I don't even deserve this much attention from a Fire Lord!"

A hint of surprise had appeared on Zuko's scarred face.

"Katara, how can you say such thing? You saved my life! You saved all of us!" Zuko had told, gesturing around. "I will never forget that, and if I have the slightest chance to repay you, I will! But you see, I cannot do anything relevant, unless you tell me what's wrong! When you arrived, I saw true joy in your eyes, but that happiness disappeared… The only thing which remained is unnerving politeness. I want you here as a friend, not as an ambassador of another nation! Please; would you tell me what the problem is?"

Katara had felt uncomfortable again, as she realized how much of an open book she had been for her friend since day one. But at the same time, she had felt betrayed. She had not been feeling like an important guest to the Fire Lord. Now that she had thought about it, these efforts of his seemed to be impersonal, and she had had the impression that she had been an unwanted person here, in the Fire Nation Capital. Thus her eyes had been ice cold, as she had looked at Zuko again, and finally, words of pure honesty had left her mouth:

"I'm sorry, but I truly thought… I truly think things had changed! I had thought that this trip is only a formal visit, so I might have been acting as a mere delegate of my people. Because… you were so busy, Zuko! You barely had time to see us, and if you did have, we couldn't exchange more than a few words…" Katara had pointed out.

She only had understood after finishing the sentence that all of this was a terrible misunderstanding. She had thought the young Fire Lord ignored her because of… well, herself. Thus she had never worded her problems.

And on the other hand, Zuko had never asked her, how she had been… right until this moment. But now, his curious concern had shown that the firebender must've been also grateful and happy to enjoy his friend's company.

_Maybe I… scared him away with the coldness I radiated, according to his words, _she had wondered, and watched Zuko, who had taken a deep breath, and continued walking. _Yes, this is a horrible mistake!_

She had followed the Fire Lord. They'd left the terrace and the inner gardens, and ended up under some tallish trees, branches suffering under the weight of loads of heavy fruit.

"I'm so sorry I had to disappoint you, Katara!" Zuko had started. "There's a drought in the Southern Territories. A real catastrophe… and to make it worse, the peasants are revolting! We — the government, I mean — had sent as much supply to the people as we could, but some of it disappeared on the way there. It's a really disturbing case, as you can imagine. This is the reason why there are so many general staff meetings recently. My best men are investigating the situation, including uncle Iroh… and in the meanwhile, we, here in the Capital, are trying to figure out, how to restore public order out there… Poor uncle, he must be going through hell, being far from his beloved tea shop in Ba Sing Se for this long!"

Katara had wanted to say something, but she couldn't think of anything appropriate. Zuko had been so upset about the topic; his vocal cords had been droning nervously, as he had continued with his explanation:

"This was the reason why I've been so preoccupied. I was thinking about a decent solution, even when I should've had focused on my guests' wellbeing. And not only you've fallen victim to my distraction" the man had confessed, looking away. "I managed to hurt Mai as well a few times. You know… her signature coldness had only made my mood even worse."

Katara had shared Zuko's aggravation. She couldn't imagine anything more evil than stealing food from the starving.

Actually… she could imagine more vile things. But she had refused to think about them.

She had looked at Zuko instead, showing a worried expression, and put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, though suddenly she had become worried about the relationship between Zuko and Mai as well. But Zuko had changed the topic of the conversation, assuring Katara, that from now on, he would be a better host.

"I missed talking to you. So, when the others refused to go on a walk, I followed you."

_Because you're important to me_, the glowing eyes of the man had told, and Katara had blushed. It had remained, however, unseen in the semidarkness of the garden. She had been sure her embarrassment was caused by the silly misunderstanding. It had been so simple after all: both of them had longed for each other's company, but they couldn't manage to enjoy it properly, until now.

"I'm happy that you are here, and told me that" Katara had bowed her head, and held her hands according to the Fire Nation customs.

Zuko had rolled his eyes at this.

"Oh, come on, Katara!" an annoyed Zuko had said, and he had opened his arms, thus the sleeves of his robe had slipped from his forearm. Katara had been utterly joyful, when she finally had taken that final step towards the Fire Lord, and Zuko had gathered her into a warm hug. Finally, they had been as close to each other as they used to be, both literally and emotionally.

Katara had thought it couldn't have been more pleasant. The air had been filled with the bewildering, sweet odor of blossoming flowers, and with the crippling of lovestruck crickets calling for one another.

The girl from the Water Tribe had felt ashamed, having doubts in connection with Zuko again. He had proved to be a loyal friend… She had known he was worthy of her trust since their imprisonment in the Crystal Catacombs, deep beneath Ba Sing Se. It had been actually her mistake that the confused teenager turned against them: his whole morality had turned upside down, thanks to different expectations from various members of his horrible family… She should've seen that! She should've convinced him, should've made the difference between wrong and right clear for him…

But all's well that ends well, as the saying goes. Zuko had managed to grow up and become a better person, even without her aid. He had learnt to smile: if this hadn't been a positive metamorphosis, then Katara didn't know, what could be.

They had become more and more relieved with every passing second, walking side by side, maybe a bit too close to each other. Not as if they had had much choice, because the road had been narrow, and there hadn't been any light around, save the Evening Star and the rising Moon above and a bunch of fireflies. They had had to follow the path, and stick close, if they hadn't wanted to crash into a tree accidentally.

"I couldn't help noticing, my dear friend, Fire Lord Zuko" Katara had said, placing extra emphasis on the royal title, in order to underline she had only been joking ", your sense of fashion is improving spectacularly! I still remember you wearing those terrifying body armors with all the spikes on it… brr, they must be very uncomfortable!"

"You'd be much surprised how comfortable they are" Zuko had said, letting out a small laugh, and he had started to explain why these outfits are so common among the Fire Nation officers. He also had told her about the symbolic meanings of some clothes and accessories, and then he had assured Katara that there had been more humble garments in the wardrobe of a wealthy citizen of the Fire Nation as well.

"What a pity… It seems you dislike even the fashion of my people!"

"Oh, no, no! I never told that!" Katara had protested, playing with her hair awkwardly. "I saw, in fact, plenty of women wearing beautiful dresses at the banquettes. Also, your weavers can produce really fine and strong fabric, and your tailors… well, all I can say is they seem to be the best clothbenders in the world! There are some things I'd do differently, though. I, myself, like looser clothing better… waterbending requires rather wide, sweeping movements, you know…"

"Yes, and firebending requires security!" the young man had interrupted, smirking at Katara's logic, which had been so unlike the thinking of any member of the Fire Nation. "If we'd try to firebend wearing loose clothes, we'd possibly set ourselves on fire, don't you think?"

"That would call for a really clumsy firebender, don't you think? Wait… it happened to you right?" she had told, chuckling. "Admit it!"

Zuko had groaned in annoyance, and he had picked some fruit off the lower branch of a tree for both of them instead of answering.

"How else would you like to change our taste?"

The man had ripped a piece of fruit in two, and he had handed one of the two halves of it to his friend. The fruit had looked delicious and it had had a real sweet odor. Though Katara couldn't wait to get a taste of it, nevertheless she had answered the question, in a joking manner, of course:

"Tell me something: what is the use of all the red? I mean yes, there's some black and gold and even purple here and there, but they're almost unnoticeable amongst all this red! Don't tell me it's because you people are so narrow-minded…"

"Well, there are kani trees all around… You can see them everywhere in the Fire Nation. The leaves of them are used to manufacture red paint, you know. Thus that paint has the most decent price, given the great volume of it."

"Oh" Katara had said, and she had felt stupid. "I though it was also symbolic… You know, the national color, and things like that."

"Yes, that's a reasonable thought, but it happened in fact contrariwise" Zuko had said, but Katara hadn't cared about what he had to say anymore, because she hadn't even been there with him. Taking a bite of the furlo fruit could really overwhelm anyone. It made one feel him- or herself in heaven, that's how incredibly delicious it was...

As the memory of the fruit's sweet taste blurred, Katara took yet another look at the beautiful piece of clothing on the cushion. It seemed like she had no idea how dedicated Zuko could really be. Yes, she did know that side of Zuko very well… But planning this out, to give such a beautiful cloth to her, just because of her rather infantile words, which completely lacked seriousness, and having it done during one night…

Well, that was a really, really crazy thing to do, even if someone was a Fire Lord. Not to mention in this case a very busy Fire Lord.

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><p><strong>Translator's note: Oookay, so you may speculate what is this all about. Well, this is a Zutara story, written by Hungarian author Zora, and I decided to translate it in English, because I've found it suitable to do so! It also turned out to be a Christmas present to her, so yeah... Merry Christmas :)<br>**

**So, basically, if you detest it, then blame me for the crappy translation, but on the other hand, if you enjoyed it, well, it's completely Zora's achievement^^  
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**Please, leave a review, if you liked it (perhaps I can persuade the author to respond to them herself)**. **Merry Christmas to ya'll!**


	2. The Letter

**Chapter II: The Letter**

Katara, as if waking from a dream, emerged from the sofa, and stood before the looking glass to see if the stunning gift of the Fire Lord fitted her. She didn't even notice Momo jumping on the arm of the couch, and watching her with huge green eyes full of questions, because she, herself, was full of questions as well. It would've been hard to imagine anything more beautiful than the dress. She took her night gown off: she didn't feel clean enough to wear such a magnificent garment, so she decided to take a bath.

Bending movements were nearly as fast as her thoughts. _What will the others say? What would Mai think if she learns about this valuable present? _

No, they won't make a fuss over it. At least not Suki… she was not that kind of girl. Besides, she had already received quite a number of small, nevertheless expensive gifts from their host. And Mai… well, Mai benefited from the tender love and care of her boyfriend on a daily basis, so she should be okay with Zuko sharing his big heart with others as well. Besides, Zuko might feel hurt if she didn't wear his present. The best way to say „thank you" would be to make good use of the dress.

A shadow of a smirk ran through Katara's lips, only to be washed away with a handful of cool water in the next second.

When she felt clean — well, clean enough —, she dressed, and started braiding her long, brown locks. A mild crash from the dressing table in the corner of the room interrupted her work: it was Momo, playing with some valuable-looking accessories, which he must've found in one of the drawers. Katara chuckled, and took two wooden pins from the mischievous little creature. She smirked at the sticks which smelled like fresh pine wood, and she did something she hardly ever bothered to do: she jeweled her usual braid with blue pearls, alongside with the sticks saved from the lemur's playful paws.

Hurrying through the hallways, she was a cool breeze from the South itself. Palace servants and employees stared after her with their eyes popped out of their heads, and they uttered words of appraisal to each other:

„Lady Katara from the Southern Water Tribe really is a smooth woman! Her beauty matches a Fire Lady's!" While others stated: „The needlewomen worked whole night long on that dress, but I have to admit: it was worth it!"

Katara's friends were gathered in the smaller Meeting Hall. Sokka, not so surprisingly, rested his butt on a couch filled with soft pillows, and Mai, kneeling beside a short table, was holding a brush in her hand; this and her sleeve pulled above the elbow indicated that she was about to write. On her right a quite excited Suki was standing — also wearing a new dress, as Katara noted. So probably the Fire Lord, who was standing next to Mai as well, and fixing his gaze on the parchment in front of his lover, so the Fire Lord was not generous to merely one of his female guests.

The jaw of mentioned royalty nearly hit the ground when his gaze accidentally wandered to Katara. But he quickly got hold of himself, and adjusted a warm smile to his lips.

The Fire Lord was reduced to silence for a reason: and, at the end of the day, it was completely irrelevant whether merely the dress was responsible for that or the joyful aura around Katara as well. Maybe the explanation was the perfect harmony between the quite extraordinary woman and the equally special garment.

Strangely Katara found herself uninterested by Zuko's reaction. She was more eager to know why they gathered here, why Suki seemed so agitated and, for the Spirits' sake, why didn't they wake her up in time?

„'Morning," she mumbled in slight distress. „So, er… what's up?"

All eyes were fixed on her, making her feel quite uncomfortable.

„Good morning to you as well, Katara," said Zuko, though it was quite strange to say when noon had already drawn so close, and Katara was sure that if someone, he, the firebender, definitely felt how high the sun already was in the sky. „Don't worry, there's really no problem at all…"

„It's Ty Lee," interrupted Suki, and the weirdest explanation began. Suki was so overwhelmed her words didn't make much sense, and it was clear that the Kyoshi warrior quoted exact words from Ty Lee's letter (at least the lack of coherence suggested that). The word „baby", however, was uttered several times, which strengthened Katara's suspicions.

Mai listened to the endless blurb with an expression of annoyance, and then she let out a tired sight before trying to explain Suki's words:

„Ty Lee is babbling about karma, chakra and yoga… just as usual. The point is that the baby is very close to be born, other than that, I don't think there's any real problem." A shadow of a soft smile ran through Mai's face, rare guest on the lips of the cold and indifferent woman. She put her brush down, and looked at Zuko. „I still think the real reason behind her letter is that she wants me there, to be with her. It's quite hard to understand. In a similar situation, I would be stressed to death having anyone bothering me with their affection. But we're talking about Ty Lee: I know her like the back of my hand, and she would be pleased if as many as possible of the people she loves would be there."

Zuko eyed his girlfriend for a while, and then he started pacing back and forth in the room. He seemed to be a big ball of nerves.

„I can't, Mai. You know I can't. With the crisis escalating each and every day…"

„Yes, I know everything about the crisis, you don't have to mention it," answered Mai in a slightly hurt tone, and she picked up the brush again, and dipped it in some ink.

Katara liberated a seat by pushing Sokka rudely but effectively to the side. She felt as the tension between the two lovers was almost solid. They had a fight yesterday evening, she knew it. That was the reason why Zuko went to the garden… He ran away from her, just like he hid in the shadows of the far side of the room now.

"I'm so sorry you can't come, Zuko!" said Suki. "It will be wonderful to see Ty Lee's newborn!"

"You're together with a big baby on a daily basis, Suki," said Katara, pointing at her brother.

There was a second of awkward silence before Sokka added:

"Boohoo?"

Suki laughed out, and threw her arms around her mate. Sokka knew his stuff: he even managed to make Zuko smile.

"Boy, there will be three girls! Good thing I'll be there to support Haru!" said the boy, holding his head high and stroking his small goatee. "While you talk about diapers and baby clothes, we'll drink like men!"

The girls glared at her. Katara left her brother's side leaving him defenseless against Suki rambling about the obvious traits of Haru, and joined Zuko instead. She saw it in his face that the Fire Lord would rather take Sokka with him at the moment to devour several bottles of saké together. Zuko only smirked when he realized that she's smiling at him too.

"So, how's my good ol' fella', the Fire Lord today?" she mocked. "Don't answer it. You look awful."

Suki's glare was nothing compared to the piercing gaze of Katara's cold blue eyes, no matter how much compassion they radiated under normal circumstances. But Zuko didn't get startled: his smile grew wider, nevertheless it was tired.

"I feel better now, seeing my favorite waterbender in her new dress. Katara… I do want to talk about it, but later."

"Well, it is a wonderful dress…," said Katara in a lowered voice. She was quite surprised to hear a compliment about her, not the dress. She tried to figure how to say thank you, because a simple 'thank you' felt somewhat out of place, but she couldn't. Not with Zuko looking at her, and smiling thoughtfully.

"What? Is there something in my hair?" she asked, but Zuko only shook his head.

"Hey, what are you two up to?" Sokka shouted. Katara looked at him, and she saw it in his face that he'd won the argument with his fiancé. Curiously enough, Suki's face mirrored the same expression.

Katara didn't even notice that she stepped away from Zuko instinctively, neither did the Fire Lord. She couldn't help but notice a mysterious frown appearing on Sokka's forehead.

"It was nothing. Zuko asked how long will you abuse… ehm, pardon, enjoy his hospitality," stabbed Katara, though she knew such remark is a mere mosquito bite to Sokka.

"Katara… Your dress… Oh, dear Kyoshy, it's beautiful! I can't believe I didn't notice earlier!"

The dress. Yes, it was the dress again. No mystery why she didn't notice: it was very similar in shape and color to Katara's regular qipao, only the fabric was way finer. And Katara stood somewhat taller now, wearing the new garment, and she radiated the self-confidence of royalty, though she wasn't aware of that.

Suki came closer to touch the wonderful fabric, and Katara saw that the Kyoshy warrior's new dress, green in color with yellow sunflowers embroidered on it, was made of a very similar material.

"Zuko practically spoils us, right?" she said, and sent a flash of a grateful smile towards the young firebender, but she had to meet the puzzled look of her female friend.

"What do you mean Zuko? Sokka bought me this… I saw this dress in the market yesterday, and I fell in love with it at first sight… and Sokka bought it for me in complete secrecy! Isn't that sweet?" said Suki, and had Sokka been made of ice, he would've melted on the instant, so warm was the expression on Suki's face.

Mai heard it all, of course, and Katara saw her looking up from the parchment. The cold noblewoman looked suspiciously long at Katara — she was most certainly digesting every single inch of Katara's dress.

"Yupp, I know exactly how to deal with women," replied Sokka, and soon enough he was nearly drowned under pillows as Suki landed on him, and buried him with kisses. But nobody in the room gave a damn about them anymore.

Katara looked at Zuko for help. She could feel the tension gathering on Mai's side, and she hoped that the firebender would come up with a decent excuse to explain the expensive dress to Mai. But Zuko was as insecure as Katara at the moment. So she lowered her gaze, and waited for the inevitable explosion. Her throat became as dry as if she was in the Earth Kingdom desert, but nothing came — no big scene, no angry yelling, no accusation. She saw from the corner of her eye that Zuko was moving towards her, but she didn't want to feed Mai's suspicions, so she stepped to the window as if she wanted to look at the lush garden outside. Finally, the atmosphere in the room started to ease as the source of it turned her attention back to the parchment before her.

Katara, surprising even herself, sat down onto one of the big pillows around the small table, and started to talk to Mai, perhaps to ease the situation, not to mention her own conscience.

"So, when do we leave here?" she asked. Again, all eyes darted at her, and Katara felt weird seeing their puzzled looks.

"What?" asked Katara, when the silence became unbearable.

"You want to come with us?" asked Mai, and it suddenly dawned on Katara. They've already planned their travel, perhaps during breakfast. Could they possibly decide to leave her out of this? Of course she wanted to go, if only they'd waken her earlier…

"Yes, I want to! And even if I wouldn't want to, it would be lousy to travel to Omashu on my own…," she replied in a hurt tone.

"Oh, well, this changes a whole lot of things. I planned to bring four people. In fact, the yacht of my cousin cannot even carry more people, especially with all the crew and cargo…"

"Uhm, maybe you messed up the numbers, Mai. There would be four people without Zuko," Katara told, and her voice was almost apologetic, though she didn't dare to send a sympathetic smile to the Fire Lord.

"No, there wouldn't be. We're taking Shi Jio, the royal doctor. I promised Ty Lee to bring him with me."

"Come on, Mai! You don't need a doctor. I was assisting at plenty of births, and I'm a healer as well, but you probably know that," the horrible coldness, and the visible distance between her and Mai started to drive Katara crazy. She tried to be friendly with the noblewomen, she tried it damn hard, but it was clear that Zuko's girlfriend didn't really like her. That is actually an understatement: Mai most certainly hated her guts, for one reason or another. And the others… they would not dare to clash with the mistress of the house. Katara felt betrayed.

"Shi Jio has been treating us since childhood. He knows practically our whole medical history," explained Mai, her face a mask of boredom. "I would trust him with my life. And I'm sorry, but I'd bring a real doctor, who works with methods used since a millennium, rather than a waterbending master."

That was it. Katara felt the sympathy of the others turn to her, so serious the insult was. She stood from the pillow, and looked at the dumb and unfriendly girl, who was actually blinder than Toph from certain aspects, with blazing eyes.

"You think I'm not good enough? You think the healing capacities of water are not enough?" she yelled, and if she had the ability to throw lightning, she would've gone Azula by now. Even Sokka defeated his laziness, and stood up to defend her little sister, probably because Mai insulted his people as well alongside with Katara.

"Mai, if you have doubts about Katara's abilities, please, look at your boyfriend. Zuko wouldn't be here if not to Katara," Sokka said in a slightly serious tone.

"And the Avatar owes his life to Katara as well," added Zuko, an placed a comforting hand on Katara's shoulder.

The gentle words couldn't ease Katara's feelings. She remembered her conversation with Jeong Jeong: how much he despised his own element, and how deeply he admired Katara's gift. She couldn't believe that the old master and Mai were hailing from the same cultural background. Then again, Mai was an ignorant and spoiled daughter of a wealthy family.

Mai put the brush down again, and scowled at Zuko. The girl probably figured by now that she's went too far, nevertheless she had every right to be angry with his boyfriend, given he was supporting another woman.

"I'm just saying that the boat is full. Shi Jio shall come with us, period." She rolled up the letter, and used it to point at Sokka. "If I recall it correctly, you were the one to say Katara wouldn't want to come!"

"What?" snapped Katara, and turned to Sokka, who tried to hide behind Suki without much success.

"I thought you'd rather go directly to Omashu… to see Aang!" Sokka tried to explain himself.

Aang… yes, Sokka was right, but Katara couldn't believe there was no decent solution. Unless, of course, they didn't want her to come.

"You should've asked me before deciding everything," she told, and hoped her voice showed enough disappointment to make them feel guilty. "It wouldn't have been that much of a distraction, and I do want to see at least if Ty Lee and Haru are all right. Don't worry, I don't want to heal them against your wishes," she said sarcastically to Mai, before turning to Zuko.

"Are you sure there's no space left on that yacht? I'll gladly sleep on board if necessary," Katara told him. Though Mai probably had better knowledge to answer the question, Katara felt Zuko was the only person in the room completely at his senses.

"My cousin is already doing us a favor. I wouldn't even accept his help if there'd be another solution. The number of available vessels are reduced, thanks to the crisis at hand, and there's practically no ship going directly to Kyoshy. My cousin's tiny yacht is our fastest mean to get there." It seemed as if Mai had thought of everything. Katara lowered her gaze again. Even if it's true… why her? Why leaving her out of all of this?

Uncomfortable silence filled the hall once again, while everyone, except probably Mai, was thinking of a decent solution.

"And what if we take mongoose serpents? It would be even faster," brought up Suki.

"Unless they carry packages as well. And they are quite slow in the water," replied Zuko, and Mai mumbled something which reminded suspiciously to 'uncomfortable'. Katara looked at her so-called friends with disbelief. It was like they just pretended to think, but deep within none of them wanted to keep Katara company during their trip.

"Okay, okay, then only I will take a mongoose serpent. I will bring only the most essential things, and I can enhance the speed of the creature with waterbending. Zuko can send the rest of my stuff after me."

"Sounds reasonable enough to me," said Zuko, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "But we are also quite low on mongoose serpents, thanks to the horrible situation in the South. I'll send someone to find one, though."

And just then Katara did something which probably would've caused a heart attack to any humble citizen of the Fire Nation: she contradicted the Fire Lord. She had a good reason to do so, though: she was quite sure now that somehow she became 'persona non grata' among them, if not for the country itself.

"Thank you for your generosity, Your Highness, but no, thank you. I'll just catch a vessel to the Earth Kingdom. It will be the best for everyone," Katara said in a mocking tone, and bowed so deep her nose nearly touched her knee.

"You conspired against me!" she snapped suddenly, finally releasing her anger. "You were right, after all: now I really don't want to accompany you!"

The waterbender raced out of the hall so swiftly, if she hadn't pulled the hem of her dress to her thighs she had definitely tripped in it. She saw Zuko reaching out for her, she heard him call her name, but still Katara didn't stop. She bit her lip to prevent bitter tears erupting from the corner of her eye, at least until she found some place where she could be alone. She already felt guilty because of her outburst and miserable because of her disappointment in her friends. It was a huge mistake to come to the Fire Nation, it would've been better to travel to Omashu in the first place.

Even her own brother betrayed her… Even Zuko! It seemed their bonding the evening before meant nothing to the arrogant royal offspring.

She followed the same way which she used to get to the hall. The very same palace employees, who had seen her earliet that day, didn't understand her condition. Half an hour ago she had been happiness itself, a real princess, and now… now her tears on the dark stone floor were reflecting torchlight.

She would've felt horribly alone in her oversized bed if Momo hadn't cuddled up to her. But he did, maybe because he felt Katara's sorrow. It was more reasonable to think, however, that he only wanted her to rub his long ears. Katara managed to pull herself more or less together, but still she couldn't find any reasonable explanation to what happened.

She felt moisture slowly filling the air. Small wonder; a storm was about to break out above the Fire Nation Capitol, and the sun hid behind thick, dark clouds. Katara felt like walking in the garden, which was significantly cooler now. She wanted to breathe some fresh, chilly air, maybe even stand in the rain for a while… But she was afraid she'll come across someone familiar. She didn't really want anyone to see her right now.

There was no excuse to the behavior of her friends. It wasn't enough that they left her out from the dispute, they also rejected her presence during their trip… But why? As far as she could tell, Zuko was the only person who had a reason to keep her here; somehow she knew the Fire Lord wanted company while the others, especially Mai, were away.

When did she become an unwanted burden to the others? Or… was it all Mai's doing? Yes, maybe everything was a result of a childish plot of the noblewoman… If so, she was a good apprentice of Azula. But still, Katara couldn't fathom why Mai would do such thing.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Katara wanted to vanish into thin air in the instant; she didn't want to talk to anyone for the time being. She wondered who was bold enough to disturb an angry waterbending master, but the whispering behind the door betrayed the intruders soon enough, just as the intruders betrayed Katara earlier that day.

"No, Sokka! It'd be better if you'd stay right here… Katara, it's Suki! I'm going in, okay?" said the Kyoshy warrior, and Katara let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Suki entered at lightning speed, and shut the door immediately, in order to keep Sokka out.

Of course it was Suki; the fearless warrior. Katara regretted that she didn't lock her door — not as if that would've provided any difficulty to Suki —, but still, it was still better than Sokka. His means to talk sense to her — the way her brother had always put it — had never worked out.

No matter how much she liked Suki, she turned her back on the Kyoshy girl, and stroked Momo with a frown on her face.

She didn't actually needed to look at Suki's face to feel her guilt. She was really glad that she'll be family in the near future; she was significantly more adequate to the role of a female friend than, say, Toph. Suddenly she, herself, felt childish, because of her anger towards the young woman. Suki was definitely not only interested in Ty Lee's condition because she was engaged to Sokka and therefore planning her own family. Her enthusiasm was real and honest, and Katara felt she had no right to spoil her happiness. So finally, she turned around to face her friend.

"You okay?" Suki asked and she seated herself on Katara's bed. Katara wrinkled her brow and carried on petting the now slightly annoyed lemur.

"Yeah," Katara answered, though her tone was dripping with blame. "I'm fine with the fact that you left me out from this, really. I feel like… I feel like a kid again, with my parents making all the important decisions above my head. I hadn't felt this way since my… since my mom was gone."

"Oh, Katara, I'm so sorry! Believe me, we didn't mean to leave you out, it just… happened," said Suki, with signs of passionate tears in her orbs.

"It happened, right?" snapped Katara, and frightened the hell out of Momo with that. "Okay, then you know what? I'll arrange the day of your wedding, but… oh, sorry, my bad, Mai, you can't come! You see, a fur coat is essential at the South Pole, you know, for the sole purpose of avoiding to freeze to death, but curses, we just can't manage to get you an extra! You know, the recession of polar beaver population, and so on…,"

Katara regretted the irony the very moment she let "polar beaver" out through her lips. She regretted even more that she brought Mai in. She wanted to hide her real feelings about her, but they burst out nevertheless.

Suddenly everything started to make sense. The hostile remarks the pale noblewoman issued against her weren't the sign of some specific sense of humor of hers, rather the indication of Mai's loathing. _And, in the name of the Bottomless Ocean, the feeling's mutual._

"I didn't know you were so mad at her."

"Good morning, Suki, this is all her fault! Okay, I admit it, you did your best to help her get rid of me, both of you…," she added relentlessly. "I can't believe you didn't wake me up!"

"We never wanted to get rid of you, Katara! And we haven't wanted to leave you out from anything. We just… forgot. It was such a weird morning," Suki started to explain herself. She told how she and Sokka had awakened a bit late as well — though not as late as Katara —, and they couldn't find anyone in the dining hall where they usually ate breakfast. So they had eaten in their room — the servants had been quite helpful and brought some food in no tome —, and then they had gone to find Zuko. They had had no clue Katara was not with Zuko and Mai, in fact, they had been most surprised when a palace official had escorted them to the small Meeting Hall, and they had found Mai and Zuko. Their faces had been flaming red, so their argument must have been very intense. They must have been pretty experienced at yelling off each other's head, because they had stopped on the instant, and Zuko briefly told them what Ty Lee had written. Then, as it had dawned at the Fire Lord that Katara was not with the Sokka and Suki either, he had sent a servant to fetch her. When she had finally arrived, however, they'd already talked through everything.

"I'm really sorry, but we really thought you're eager to see Aang, after all," Suki ended her monologue.

Katara found something very interesting in the middle of the carpet, so she fixed her gaze on that, instead of looking Suki in the eyes.

"You were right, actually," she admitted after she thought through the things Suki told. "It still feels bad, though. I feel like I'm just some package you can decide to bring along or leave behind…"

"Oh, come on," said Suki, and squeezed the shoulder of her waterbender friend. "How about we find a good solution…"

"It's still a problem that a certain someone doesn't want me to come."

"Oh, I don't think her lack of sympathy is the reason. You know, Ty Lee only invited Mai, she doesn't know we're also going. And I don't think it would be a good idea for all of us to go. Delivering a child and dealing with troublesome guests — not a good combination," said Suki, and Katara suddenly felt the two year difference between their ages. Suki was incomparably maturer sometimes.

Because she was right, of course: it would've been rude to stumble in with a small army, and disturb both Ty Lee and the baby… but that begged the question: how come Suki could go, nonetheless?

"Oh, I know what you're thinking," said Suki, preventing another sharp remark from her friend, and Katara realized that the young woman had found her out very much by now. "You see, I was so excited about the news, plus I'm practically at home on Kyoshy, that Mai asked me to go with her. I didn't even think it over until now. But if you really want to go so badly, I'll offer you my place. We can go after you later with Sokka."

Katara considered this, and she admitted that it would be better if Suki went to visit her own comrade, not to mention her hometown which she hadn't visited in ages. She thought about asking her to leave the weakest link, Sokka, here with Zuko, and turn this into a girl's adventure, but she realized that the couple would never leave each other's side, not on the eve of their wedding. And this would've left her with…

"Oh, no, thank you. I'd rather ride the unagi than go with Mai alone," Katara joked, and Suki giggled, hence the tension between the two friends eased all of a sudden. Suki apologized again a few times, and Katara started to feel embarrassed, and thought that she should be the one apologizing for her childish behavior. And the conversation slowly wandered back to her new dress.

"So tell me: am I right to think you received this gift from the Fire Lord himself?" smirked the Suki, and Katara felt blushing while explaining the origin of the garment. She talked about their conversation with Zuko on Fire Nation fashion the previous evening, and Suki's grin grew even wider at that.

"No wonder Mai's mad at you."

"Now Suki!" she snapped at the auburn girl, who was now laughing so hard her eyes started to well up again, and she thought her friend — almost her sister-in-law — wasn't serious at all. "Zuko is just a good friend… we've been through a lot together."

"Yeah, you've definitely been," Suki teased further, and Katara discovered something disturbingly Sokka-ish in Suki's way of making fun of her. But it lasted only for a second: Suki wiped her tears of laughter away, and apologized for what it seemed like the hundredth time.

Katara was grateful for their conversation — though she had a hard time standing the girl's cocky grin —, and she offered Suki to help her packing. In fact, Katara started to feel agitated again about her own travel to the Earth Kingdom. She wanted to see Aang badly; she wanted to get engaged in a mudfight with Toph; she wanted to fly again in the saddle of Appa. It was great to think of leaving the moist furnace of the Fire Nation behind; to leave the mean Mai and the always busy Zuko behind. She wondered how much Aang had changed since she hadn't seen him. Only a small thorn remained in her heart given her friends' behavior, but she was positive it will disappear during the few, Mai-free days before she set sail to the Earth Kingdom.

After Suki left, Katara opened the wooden shutter covering the window, and took a deep breath to inhale the cold smell of oncoming rain. Momo jumped from the window sill, and started to chase a fat bug, while Katara thought the storm was still far enough the take a walk in the garden. As she approached the door, soft murmurs hit her ear. Still she didn't want to talk to anyone, so she stood back against the door, and tried to steady her breathing. It was Suki and Sokka. They were probably unaware that someone could hear them; it was the high ceiling of the hallway that amplified their voices, though the reverberation distorted them a bit as well.

"…her manner. Do you think there's something between them?" she heard Sokka's voice and she gritted her teeth. Why on earth won't they leave her be?

"Are you even listening to yourself, you wacko? They're friends. Besides, Katara would never…," their voices seemed to weaken, which meant they probably started to walk further away from her door.

"… Aang… I'd be curios… this friendship," added Sokka, but the rest remained unheard to Katara. She bent her knees, still leaning to the door. What was that all about? Did they drink cactus juice? Actually, Katara felt, by the condition of her stomach, as if _she_ was drinking cactus juice.

_Why won't anyone tell his or her problems right to my face? _was the thought echoing in Katara's head while she walked down to the garden in order to clear her troubled mind. When she finally returned, she was soaking wet. She returned to her room to change, and after a few seconds of thinking, she didn't bend the water out of the fabric. The condition of the dress would be a good excuse not to wear Zuko's mindblowing gift for a while.

**Shit, am I lousy updater? :D I'm practically drowning in stuff to do, so if anyone is actually interested in this story, well... see you in december? XD Seriously, I don't know when will I manage to do the next chapter :(**

**Pls enjoy!  
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